Letters to the editor, December 9, 2017

The article entitled “Yukon serves up world-first” (NP, Nov. 23) reports on what is going in the Yukon (and Korea), but leaves one with an incorrect impression of the dangers of alcohol consumption.

It is worthwhile reading a recent article in the New York Times entitled “A Link between Alcohol and Cancer? It’s not Nearly as Scary as It Seems.” That article puts the increased risk into perspective, and shows how easily statistics can be used to make something worse than it really is.

A quote from the Times article: “A 2013 meta-analysis in the Annals of Oncology that looked at all cancers found that, over all, light drinking was protective; moderate drinking had no effect; and heavy drinking was detrimental.” The article goes on to point out the dangers of cherry picking results without placing them in an overall context. If one cherry picks results, nearly everything can be shown to cause an increased risk of cancer.

The author makes five recommendations when reporting on these studies. The last of five recommendations is “Acknowledge the harms, as well as the benefits, of recommendations. Consider both cost and joy.” In conclusion, “These rules may not make for exciting headlines. They may, however, lead to happier, and perhaps healthier, lives.”

Dean Jones

Saskatoon

Education minister’s comment

The education minister’s recent comments about the education of First Nations history and the treaties are unacceptable.

To be someone in the highest office of education in the province and believe that the infusion of First Nations history into the curriculum is not important, is utterly ridiculous. Her comments may legitimize those who hold hateful views in our province. Who better to reinforce your negative ideas than the education minister?

Being a high school student, I understand the need for education about our past. If First Nations history is in its own course, it may be optional, and people would not need to learn about the importance between First Nations peoples and Canadian history. The minister talked about how her son almost felt ashamed of his ancestry, which is not the intent of learning about First Nations history. Without learning about our history, we will not be able to understand the treaties or our legally binding requirement to uphold them.

Our history is embedded into our society. We would not be the Canadians we are today without First Nations’ contributions in our shared past. The minister should step down over these completely backward-thinking comments.

Noah Munro

Allan

The Nutana dilemma

You can’t blame Nutana residents for resisting infills to keep their neighbourhood as is. We’ll see further petitions to pull up the infill drawbridge.

Saskatoon has been growing on the edges for so long it may seem unnatural or unnecessary to embrace a turn inward for its growth. However, some comparisons might give a better look at where Saskatoon is in terms of population density.

New York has 8.5 million people on 790 square kilometres of land for a population density of 10,760 people per sq. km. The city of Calgary’s 1.24 million people live on 825 sq. km for a density of 1,526 people per sq. km. Saskatoon has 270,000 people on 230 sq. km for a density of 1,174 people per sq. km. Calgary with its huge transportation investments and the LRT still has bumper to bumper traffic. Even with a higher population density than Saskatoon, and geographically larger than New York, Calgarians are finding that developing outward is an increasingly expensive and long commute.

Saskatoon is currently spending hundreds of millions on roads, bridges and overpasses to accommodate its outward growth and is years behind and millions short to service what it already has. Without a greater population density within the existing neighbourhoods, we can expect higher property taxes, reduction in services, introduction of user fees, or some combination of all three.

However, with good planning, neighbourhoods can increase their density without undermining its character. Continued expansion outward is just too expensive.

Dave Viminitz

Saskatoon

Judy Junor: Teaching treaties in the classroom

Labelling someone or something as “racist” is an easy way to portray yourself as taking the moral high ground and presenting yourself as the victim. This is a known tactic to silence dissenting opinions. It is inexcusable.

Minister Eyre was suggesting a critical review of the status quo. If it stands on its merits, keep it. If it does not, improve it. Critical evaluation has no racist overtones; it is merely the common sense approach to improvement. Just as Ms. Junor (then Minister of Learning) did in her day, I expect Minister Eyre to take a similar approach to developing\refining policy through consultation with First Nations leaders, teachers and government.

Tom Plishka

Saskatoon

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